


Understanding

by Jcapasso916



Series: Understanding [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5420051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jcapasso916/pseuds/Jcapasso916
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of letting Dean take control of the interrogation of Gabriel at the end of Changing Channels, Sam takes over and does it his way, and that makes all the difference.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Where'd I screw up?” the trickster asked annoyed with himself. 

“You didn't. Nobody gets the jump on Cas like you did,” Sam said with certainty. 

“Mostly it was the way you talked about Armageddon,” Dean pointed out. 

“Meaning?” the trickster asked confused. 

“Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talking about their own family,” Dean said smugly.

“So which one are you? Grumpy, Sneezy, or Douchey?” Sam asked sarcastically

“Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel,” he said in defeat. 

“Gabriel? The archangel?” Sam asked in disbelief. If he had ever been asked to picture Gabriel it wouldn’t have been anywhere close to this. Of course, most angels didn’t exactly meet his expectations, but this one was just way off the reservation. 

“Guilty,” Gabriel said wryly. 

“Okay, Gabriel. How does an archangel become a trickster?” Dean asked not quite sure if he believed the supposed archangel yet. 

“My own private witness protection. I skipped out of heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world. Till you two screwed it all up,” he said beyond frustrated. 

“What did Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?” Dean asked haughtily.

“Daddy doesn't say anything about anything,” he said disapprovingly. He was plenty familiar with the concept of deadbeat dads from his time and earth and well aware of how it applied to heaven. 

“Then what happened? Why'd you ditch?” Sam asked perplexed. 

“Do you blame him? I mean, his brothers are heavyweight douchenozzles,” Dean snarked.

“Shut your cakehole. You don't know anything about my family. I love my father, my brothers. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again,” Gabriel said resentfully. 

And just like that Sam completely understood Gabriel. He too had run away from a volatile home situation. He too just wanted peace. And Gabriel had tried to help before. He just thought it was too far gone now. If they were going to get the archangel’s help, it wouldn’t be like this, with them threatening him while he was powerless. “If we let you out of the holy fire can we sit down and talk like rational beings without any tricks?”

“Sam…” Dean warned. 

“Hang on Dean,” he said dismissively towards his brother. 

Gabriel wasn’t stupid. He knew that there was no reason for them to ever let him out. They could just leave him here forever. As soon as the holy fire sprang up he had been preparing to bargain for his release and he could admit that these were pretty good terms. “Agreed.”

“First you’re gonna bring Cas back from wherever you stashed him,” Dean said flinging out an arm to stop Sam from putting out the holy fire yet. 

“Fine,” Gabriel said petulantly. 

As soon as Cas appeared Sam put out the holy fire as Cas said irritated, “Hello Gabriel.”

“Hey bro. How’s the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful.” Gabriel considered just snapping up an uncomfortable picnic table complete with splinters for their talk, but figured they held up their end of the bargain and were showing some measure of trust in him so it wouldn’t kill him to be a little bit nice. For now. He snapped up a comfortable living room throwing himself into the recliner and leaving the three stooges to take the couch. “Ok talk,” he said dismissively. 

Dean reluctantly let Sam run this show. He had to admit that Sam’s idea had gotten a lot more cooperation from the infuriating archangel than he had expected. If this came back to bit them in the ass though Sam would certainly hear about it. 

Sam decided the best way to convince him would be to make it clear that he understood him first. “I get it Gabriel. Really. I know what it’s like to run away from a bad home situation and how nice it is to stick your head in the sand and forget about, but sooner or later it all comes back to haunt you,” Sam said sympathetically.

“Yeah because you two idiots screwed up,” Gabriel said heatedly. 

Sam held up a hand to stop Dean. He knew better than to ask his brother to let the two of them talk alone, but he just hoped his brother would continue to let him handle this. He had pegged from their first encounter that Gabriel and Dean were very much alike and would always rub each other the wrong way because of it. “You’re right. We did. We had no idea what we were doing and we did the wrong thing. And I know you tried to help stop it. I get what the mystery spot was about now. I still hate it, and think you’re an asshole for going about it that way, but I get it.”

Gabriel looked at the hunter curiously. He had never thought that Sam would admit that he was right. Granted he only said he was right in idea, not in execution but he was man enough to admit that maybe Sam was right. The fact that Sam seemed to understand at all though gave him pause and drained the anger from him. “It’s already started Sam. It can’t be stopped,” Gabriel said sincerely. 

“There is always a way. We just have to find it. We will find it, but it would go easier with your help. I know you don’t want your brothers to die, but you’re the only one who can help us stop it,” he said evenly. 

“I can’t go against my brothers,” Gabriel said worriedly. He knew that he was no match for either of them. 

“I’m not asking you to. I can’t promise I never will if it comes to it, but if you could just try to find a way. Anything to help us pull the plug,” Sam pleaded with him. 

“So to be clear you’re asking me to poke around for information and that’s it?” Gabriel clarified. That wouldn’t be so bad. If he couldn’t do a little snooping around without getting caught he didn’t deserve to call himself a trickster. 

“Yeah. That’s it for now. And if we need more from you it’s not like you can’t say no,” Sam said wryly. Hell there wasn’t much the archangel couldn’t do if it came to it. 

“Unless you trap me again,” Gabriel said resentfully. 

“You have my word that we will not trap you again unless you are directly threatening us,” Sam said earnestly. He felt the need to add that caveat to the end. 

Dean felt the need to jump in here. “And no more trapping us in alternate universes or time loops or any other tricks,” he said heatedly. 

“I’m not going to agree to no tricks at all. I’m a trickster after all,” Gabriel said with a smirk. “But I will agree not to trap you anywhere without your permission,” he finished amicably.

“Without our permission?” Sam asked wondering where that came from.

“Without you two the apocalypse doesn’t happen. It may come to a point where the only solution is locking you into a hidden reality so no one can get to you,” Gabriel said matter-of-factly.

Sam narrowed his eyes in thought. He had come up with that idea far too quickly for it to be spur of the moment. “That’s what this was wasn’t it? It was never about us saying yes. It was about keeping us locked away,” he asked in shock. 

Gabriel glared at the hunter. He was really too smart for his own good. “I would have taken either. You say yes and it’s over or you stay trapped and it never happens,” he said grudgingly.

Sam got it. Gabriel just wanted a resolution. Sam knew full well how frustrating it was waiting to see how something played out when you had so much at stake and the need to force a resolution of some kind. “If it comes to that, we will consider it,” he started ignoring Dean’s squawk of protest, “But only if you do everything you can to find another way.”

Gabriel definitely realized that promising to consider it was usually just a cop out. A way to promise something without promising anything, but somehow he could tell that Sam was sincere, so reluctantly found himself agreeing. “I will keep in touch with anything I find out.” Sam nodded and Gabriel asked, “So we done? Can I go now?” he asked sarcastically. 

“Just one more question,” Dean said. “If we were supposed to be so hidden then how did Cas find us?”

Gabriel smirked knowing full well that he was dropping a bombshell as he said, “Because nothing can keep an angel away from his bonded,” and he promptly disappeared. Not that he went far. He didn’t want to miss their reactions and he had learned to cloak himself so well that even Cassie wouldn’t be able to sense him.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean just sat there for a second. There were too many things he had to respond to and it took a moment for one of them to take point in his mind. “Ok first. What the hell did he mean bonded?” Dean asked turning to Cas.

Cas just looked at the ground sheepishly. “When I raised you from perdition I had to piece your soul back together and had to use my grace to do it, so we have a partial bond.”

“What does that mean?” Dean asked nervously. 

“Just that we will always be tied together in some way,” Cas said quickly. “Nothing specific, but I’ll always be able to find you.”

“You said partial bond?” When Cas nodded Dean asked, “So what’s the difference between a partial bond and a full bond?”

“To make it a full bond it would have to be consummated and it would make us mates for life,” Cas said still not looking at the hunter. 

Dean turned beet red, took a deep breath, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And you didn’t think that I should know about this bond thing?”

“I did not think that it mattered,” Cas said matter-of-factly. 

“Just…don’t keep crap from me Cas. Damnit,” he said before spinning to look at his brother. “And you! What the hell was that agreeing to let him trap us in some alternate universe?”

“I did no such thing Dean. I agreed to consider it if it was the only way. And I’m sorry Dean, but if that’s the only way to save the world then yeah I will definitely consider it. That doesn’t mean that we won’t do everything we can to find another way,” Sam said annoyed.

Gabriel had been about to leave, disappointed in the lack of reaction from Dean about the bond but feeling better that Sam actually would consider his option as a last resort, but then Dean spoke again and Gabriel found that he really wanted to hear the answer. “And you actually trust him to tell us if there is another way?” Dean asked incredulously. 

“If he is helping us then we have to trust him to some degree. If we can’t find a way and he either won’t admit to or can’t find another way what choice do we have?” Sam asked tiredly. 

“Whatever. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps,” Dean said walking towards the door, hoping that they were still in the warehouse at least and he sighed in relief when he stepped outside and saw the impala. 

So Sam didn’t really trust him. Not like that mattered. Sam was right. They didn’t have a choice. Granted, he always took his promises seriously, but they didn’t know that. He would have to prove himself though if they were to have any chance of working together to stop this. 

It was this thinking that led him to the youngest Winchester a few days later even though he didn’t actually have anything for him. He waited until Sam was alone. He didn’t think getting into an argument with the more annoying brother would help his case any. “Greetings little Winchester!” he said with a flourish as he arrived in the center of the room. 

“Gabriel!” Sam squeaked in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. You have something?”

“Meh. Not really. Kicking around a few ideas but nothing’s panning out so far. Just wanted to check in and let you know I’m still living up to my end of the bargain,” Gabriel said dismissively as he plopped onto the rickety couch. 

“What kind of ideas? Maybe I can help?” Sam asked curiously eager to hear what the archangel had come up with. It would also give him an idea of just how much effort Gabriel was putting into this. 

“Well I was considering a way to make them have their fight on another planet instead of ruining this one, but that’s not really possible and even if it were there are too many possible chain reactions that could set off, so yeah,” Gabriel said as he twirled his lollipop in his mouth. 

“Chain reactions?” Sam asked curiously.

“Yeah you know, a chunk of the planet breaking off and destroying this planet anyway, or going into the sun and causing instability or any of a thousand other things that could go wrong.”

“But that’s still better than the certainty of this planet being destroyed,” Sam pointed out. 

“Maybe, but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s no way to make it happen. They are set on having their fight here as Father planned and nothing will change their mind,” Gabriel pointed out. 

“So there’s no way you could trap them somewhere else or anything?” Sam asked, not in a pushy way, just curiously. 

“Anything that I could possibly do, they could easily undo,” Gabriel said matter-of-factly.

“I am curious about something,” Sam asked warily. 

“Then ask,” Gabriel said raising an eyebrow at the hunter. It’s not like he generally shied away from asking anything and everything that was on his mind.

“Well I understand if you don’t want to answer, but well…you keep implying that they are stronger than you, but you’re all archangels…” Sam trailed off leaving the rest of the question to be inferred. 

Gabriel sighed. If he wanted Sam to trust him then he had to put some trust in the hunter. “If I answer that it goes no further. Not even to your brother. Understood?” 

“I will only tell Dean if it’s absolutely necessary and will never tell anyone else no matter what,” Sam amended. 

“I decide if it’s necessary,” Gabriel said firmly. 

“If possible,” Sam agreed. 

Gabriel could live with that. “When an angel takes a vessel they get power from the soul of their vessel. When an angel is in their true form they pull power directly from heaven. I crafted this vessel myself because human vessels can be tracked and this was the best way to hide, so I have no soul to draw power from and if I take my true form again it will destroy this vessel and throw up a beacon to all of heaven that I’m here, so I have very little power compared to my brothers.”

Sam thought about that for a moment. “So that’s why I’m Lucifer’s vessel? Because my soul is tainted?” 

Gabriel looked at the hunter in shock. “What?!” he shouted before he regained control of his reactions. “Your soul isn’t tainted Sam. Just the opposite. Only the purest of souls can be used as vessels. Even for a fallen angel like Lucifer.”

“But the demon blood…”

“Was a means to an end. Lucifer is connected to the demons as their creator, so he requires both a pure soul and a connection to the demons as well. They only way to achieve that is for his vessel to drink demon blood. The stuff is addicting and corrupting, but doesn’t make your soul any less pure,” Gabriel explained. 

Sam didn’t realize how much he had needed to hear that until he did. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Thank you Gabriel,” he said solemnly.

Gabriel just waved a hand dismissively. It was just after that when Sam’s phone rang. He noticed Gabriel’s smirk as he answered it and had a bad feeling about this. He had no sooner hit the button when Dean’s voice boomed over the line, “You better call that damn archangel and get him to fix my damn car!”

Sam glared at Gabriel, who just idly twirled his lollipop eyes twinkling mischievously. “Why does it have to be me?” Sam asked really not wanting to step in that can of worms. 

“Because he actually listens to you!” Dean yelled back. 

“Yeah right,” Sam said rolling his eyes. 

“SAM!” Dean bellowed. 

“Fine fine. I’ll try,” Sam said wearily before hanging up and turning to Gabriel. “Please?” he asked hopefully. 

The main point of the trick in the first place was to get Sam to trust him so giving in was exactly what he had planned all along. “Since you asked so nicely,” he said snapping his fingers. “There. Back to normal.”

Sam was taken aback at how easy that was but wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Out of curiosity what did you do?”

“Nothing serious. Just made it pink,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

Sam felt free to laugh since Dean wasn’t here and it was fixed now. “Believe me. To Dean that’s serious.” Asking the trickster archangel not to prank them at all was probably unreasonable, but some things should be off limits. “We really need to set some ground rules for your pranks.”

“Aww but Samsquatch, rules are no fun,” Gabriel whined. 

“But they are necessary. First of all, no messing with the car. Second, nothing that would cause injury or incapacitation,” Sam said firmly. Those would do for now. He could add more if he needed to later.

“Fine,” Gabriel sighed. “Just take all the fun out of it why don’t you.” Gabriel had no intention of causing them any injury. Even in his biggest tricks against them they were never hurt for more than a few minutes, but he could let Sam think he won a victory on that one too. “And on that note I should be going before Deano gets back. Catch you later Sam-a-lam.”


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later they had a disastrous encounter with a Supernatural convention that was plagued by real ghosts, but they got one good piece of information from it. They knew where the colt was. Finally. 

“We should call Gabriel,” Sam said. 

“Oh come on Sam. Why?” Dean whined.

“He should know we have a plan,” Sam explained.

“But he doesn’t want Lucifer dead,” Dean argued.

“But he’ll accept it as long as he doesn’t have to do it,” Sam argued back. “And he deserves to know.”

“Fine,” Dean said petulantly. 

Gabriel showed up immediately after Sam’s prayer. “Whatcha got Samsquatch?”

“We have a lead on the colt,” Sam told him.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, “You mean the gun that can kill anything?” he said sarcastically. 

“That’s the one,” Dean said smugly. 

“I don’t know who you plan on killing with that pea-shooter but it won’t work on Luci,” Gabriel said nonchalantly. 

“Are you sure?” Sam asked curiously.

“Oh please. You actually believe him?” Dean asked his brother incredulously and got a glare from Sam. 

“Positive kiddo. I helped make the gun. I know what it can do.”

“Bullshit,” Dean spat angrily. 

“Tell you what Deano. I’ll pop over and get it and you can shoot me with it to prove it doesn’t work on archangels,” Gabriel said heatedly. Losing his temper wouldn’t help anyone. 

“Gabriel…” Sam said warningly. Dean would actually do it. But before he could get any more out Dean cut him off.

“And how would I know it’s the real gun and not just some fake you whipped up?” Dean asked aggressively. 

“OK ENOUGH!” Sam yelled. “Everyone just calm down and take a step back.” Once they had stopped yelling and put some distance between them, having not even noticed that they had been close enough to trade blows had they chosen to, Sam had a solution. “Gabriel can get the gun. We can summon a demon into a devil’s trap to test it.” Sam wasn’t even going to suggest shooting Gabriel with it, but he knew that Dean would anyway. 

“And then if it works we get to shoot Gabriel,” Dean said satisfied. 

“Fine,” Gabriel spat. 

“Gabriel you don’t have to…” Sam started. 

“Yes he does,” Dean cut in.

“It’s fine Samsquatch,” Gabriel waved off his concern. 

“Dean, can Gabriel and I have a minute?” Sam asked hopefully.

“Fine. I’ll be at the bar.” Dean said storming out. 

Once he was gone Sam turned to Gabriel, “You’re sure even in your weakened state that it won’t hurt you?”

“Oh it’ll hurt like a bitch, but I’ll heal and it won’t kill me. I’m still an archangel. Weakened or not.”

“Then why would you do it if you know it’ll hurt that bad?” Sam asked curiously. 

“Because none of this means anything unless we can work together. I’m glad you’ve learned to trust me, at least somewhat, but Dean needs to also or it’s just going to cause friction that we can’t afford.”

Sam nodded in agreement. Sometimes he forgot that Gabriel did have the ability to be mature when he actually felt like it. Sam hated asking the next question, and didn’t really expect an answer, but it needed to be put out there anyway. “So what will kill an archangel?” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the hunter suspiciously. “Just between us,” Sam promised.

Gabriel sighed. He couldn’t believe he was going to tell Sam this. “An archangel’s blade. That’s it. The only thing.”

Sam was shocked that the archangel had actually answered the question. It showed a remarkable trust in him and he couldn’t help but feel warmed by that fact. He felt that he had to ask the next question as well, knowing already what the answer was going to be though. “If it comes to it could we borrow your…”

“Absolutely not!” Gabriel interrupted.

“Okay,” Sam placated him. “I just had to put it out there.”

Gabriel sighed. “It’s not that I don’t trust you with it Sam. It’s just that you can’t win. Lucifer is the best fighter and tactician of all the archangel’s except maybe for Michael and that’s debatable. You will lose and then Lucifer will have my blade and know I’m alive, and I’ll be left defenseless.”

“We’re pretty good fighters too Gabriel,” Sam pointed out. 

“Not that good Samsquatch. Hell I could take you both out with one hand tied behind my back and Lucifer is leagues ahead of me.” When Sam looked at Gabriel disbelievingly the archangel grinned and snapped his fingers and they appeared in an open room with training mats. Gabriel handed him a regular angel blade and smirked. “Let’s see whatcha got Sammy,” he said as he put both hands behind his back. 

Sam smirked right back, completely underestimating the jokester archangel, but clarified, “No powers?” and when Gabriel nodded Sam stabbed at him as quickly as he could only to find Gabriel spinning to the side out of the way. By the time Sam realized that he had moved Gabriel had his eyebrow raised in challenge and his eyes were glittering with amusement. 

Sam narrowed his eyes and began fighting with all his skill with blade, hands and feet, but Gabriel was so fast. He leaned from side to side, backwards, crouched, jumped, and spun and Sam couldn’t even land a single hit. Not even a glancing blow. He even still had his hands behind his back. He was having fun, but his laughter just seemed to spur Sam on harder. He was waiting for the hunter to give up, but obviously he didn’t and when he noticed the hunter getting exhausted about an hour later and still not slowing down, Gabriel rolled his eyes, dropped to a crouch and swept Sam’s legs out from under him. Before the hunter could even register that he was on the floor Gabriel had a foot against his neck and the other foot resting on the hand holding the blade. Still with his hands behind his back. 

“And just so you know Sammy? Lucifer would never agree to fight without powers either,” he said smugly hoping that he made his point. “And he would actually fight back,” he added as an afterthought. 

“Heaven’s most terrifying weapon,” Sam said wryly.

“Huh?” Gabriel asked tilting his head in confusion. 

“Something Cas said. He said archangel’s were heaven’s most terrifying weapon and something about most fearsome wrath or something,” Sam muttered not being able to remember exactly what was said. 

Gabriel reached down a hand to help Sam up. “Well he was right about that, and believe me when I say that I’m the least of them. You wouldn’t stand a chance against Lucifer.”

“I get it Gabe.”

Gabriel lips twitched at the nickname. He liked it. And more than that he liked that Sam was comfortable enough with him to use it. “Well I should go retrieve your gun and you should get some rest,” he said with a smirk and they reappeared back in the motel room. 

“Yeah. Right. Rest.” Sam said tiredly as he stumbled towards his bed. He felt like his whole body was on fire. Before Gabriel could leave though Sam said, “Hey Gabe? Will you teach me?”

Gabriel sighed. “I’m not a teacher kiddo. I don’t have the patience for it.”

“I can be a good student,” Sam promised. 

Gabriel gave another longer sigh. “I’ll give it a shot. We’ll start Saturday evening once Dean leaves,” he said knowing that Dean almost always hit a bar on Saturday nights. 

“Thanks Gabriel,” Sam said closing his eyes. 

 

Gabriel waited until the hunters were awake the next morning before popping in. “Here’s your little pea-shooter,” he said handing the gun to Dean. He made some more bullets for it too, but he would give them to Sam later. He didn’t want Dean accusing him of rigging the test. Dean drove them to an abandoned building nearby and quickly set up a demon trap and summoned a demon, wasting no time before shooting him in the forehead and he sparked and fell down dead. Dean didn’t even miss a beat before turning and shooting Gabriel right in the chest. 

“Son of a bitch,” Gabriel gasped doubling over in pain. He hadn’t been expecting that. 

Sam was immediately by his side trying to make sure he was okay. “A little warning would have been nice Dean,” Sam snarked at his brother as he was trying to get a panting Gabriel to stand back up so he could see the wound. 

Gabriel held out an arm gently pushing him away. “I’m good Sammy. Just gimme a minute.” Dean had the good grace to look a little remorseful at least. He hadn’t even considered whether it would hurt the archangel or not. Once he had collected himself enough to straighten up he looked to Dean. “Happy now?” he asked irritated. 

“Well at least it could be used to distract Lucifer if we need to,” Dean said guiltily. 

“Probably not. I mean it wouldn’t hurt if you get backed into a corner, but don’t expect too much. He’s a lot more resilient than I am,” Gabriel said with a shrug. That was as close as he would come to telling Dean how much weaker he was than his brothers. 

Dean opened his mouth to ask why, but a glare from Sam shut him down and he decided not to bother. It wasn’t like it was important anyway. The fact was they had the colt back but it was pretty much useless, so he just turned and headed back to the car. Sam looked torn for a moment, but Gabriel said, “Check you later Samsquatch,” and disappeared with a wink.


	4. Chapter 4

Gabriel popped in as soon as Dean had left on Saturday. “You sure you still want me to teach you Samsquatch?” Gabriel asked smirking. 

Sam hesitated for a moment. He had a feeling that Gabriel wouldn’t be a particularly kind or patient teacher, but being a better fighter was important in their line of work so he nodded and Gabriel immediately transported them to the same room they used before. 

“Ok first things first. Expectations. You’re never going to be as good as me. It would take hundreds if not thousands of years. Also, you’re already really good for a human so don’t expect to advance in leaps and bounds,” Gabriel told him firmly. He didn’t want the hunter getting frustrated at what may seem like lack of progress. “And if you don’t put in an effort at this I’m not gonna waste my time.”

“I know Gabriel…and thanks.”

“Ok first I’m going to watch you fight so I can see what we have to work with,” Gabriel said as he snapped his fingers and a scantily dressed woman was standing in front of Sam.

“Really Gabriel?” Sam asked annoyed.

“Avoiding distraction is always a good lesson,” Gabriel quipped at the hunter who rolled his eyes, but quickly went on the defensive as the woman took a swing. Gabriel watched carefully for about fifteen minutes before he snapped and the girl disappeared. “Right. A few things to start with. Your center of balance is way off.”

“It is?” 

“Ok do what I do,” Gabriel said as he lifted his right leg and placed his foot flat on his knee. Sam did the same and wobbled a bit, but stayed upright. Then Gabriel leaned to the left and brushed his fingertips against the floor. Sam tried to do the same but ended up on the floor. “See? Balance.”

“Ok how do I fix it?” Sam asked. 

“I will show you some exercises. You might recognize some of them as a form of Tai Chi…Don’t laugh. It’s crap for fighting, but for balance it’s perfect.”

Gabriel went through about ten difference exercise that Sam could start with before moving on to the next problem. “The next issue kinda goes hand in hand with the balance thing. When you dodge, you move too much.”

“Huh?” Sam asked confused. The entire point of dodging was to move.

“Take a swing at me,” Gabriel said. Sam, knowing that he’d never hit Gabriel unless the archangel let him, didn’t hesitate, and when Gabriel said, “Freeze,” Sam did so. “Now look what I did.” Sam studied their positions and realized that Gabriel hadn’t moved his feet at all. He had just shifted his weight to his other leg and tilted his head to the side. “The less you move for one blow, the more freedom of movement you have for the next, and the more control you have over each movement. Smaller movements are also faster.”

“But wouldn’t it be better to keep moving so that it’s harder for them to hit you?” Sam asked curiously. 

“It can be effective that way against a lesser opponent, but it’s far more effective to move in response to their movements otherwise you can dodge one blow just to end up in line for another. More control is always better,” Gabriel explained. “Moving like a spastic monkey isn’t a good thing,” he said with a quirk of his lips. “Go ahead and try to hit me with both fists and I’ll show you what I mean.”

Sam aimed one punch for Gabriel’s jaw and the other for his stomach and froze when Gabriel said to and studied the positioning. Gabriel had turned sideways and stepped forward slightly so that the fist that was going for his stomach was behind his back while leaning slightly backwards so the fist that should have hit his jaw was a few inches in front of his face. 

“I think I get it,” Sam said.

“Good,” Gabriel said as they worked for a couple hours with Gabriel teaching Sam the best way to dodge without overcompensating. Sam had plenty of raw power, but Gabriel was teaching him finesse which he was sorely lacking. 

By the time Gabriel had returned him to their motel Sam was exhausted. He took a quick shower and promptly fell asleep despite it only being nine PM.

The next morning while Dean was in the shower and then out getting them breakfast Sam took the opportunity to work on the exercises Gabriel had showed him. He had more than a little trouble staying on his feet, but kept working at it. Within a few days he could definitely tell a difference. He only fell a couple times though he still wobbled quite a bit. 

Gabriel popped in a few days later while Dean was out to check in. “Hey Gabe,” Sam said cheerfully when the archangel appeared in the room. 

Gabriel smiled. It was kinda nice for someone to be happy to see him for a change. “Just checking in. I’m working on some ideas about opening the cage and tossing Luci back in, but no progress really on that. I’m still looking into other options too though.”

“Good. We haven’t really made any more progress on that front either, but the gun has really come in handy. Especially since we don’t have to worry about wasting bullets anymore. Thanks again for that by the way.”

“No sweat Samsquatch,” Gabriel said dismissively. 

“I still can’t believe you helped make it. You really knew Samuel Colt?”

“Yup. Dude was a wreck. Blind drunk more often than not,” Gabriel said. “Lots of fun at a party though.”

“He was a hunter wasn’t he? Did he know about you?”

“He knew me as Loki. You guys are the first to ever know what I really am since I left heaven behind.”

“But then why didn’t he…” Sam trailed off unsure how to word the question without being offensive. 

“Not every hunter views gods as monsters kiddo. That’s really more of a recent thing in the last hundred years or so.”

“Oh,” Sam said sheepishly. 

“So how you doing with your exercises?” Gabriel asked changing the subject. 

“Pretty good. I don’t fall down as much, but I’m still not very steady,” Sam said with a shrug. 

“Hmm,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “Let me see. I’ll see if I can spot anything off.” When Sam went into the first position leaning over to the side he wobbled and used his fingers on the floor to steady himself. “Okay. Up.” When Sam was upright again, which involved putting his foot back on the floor to straighten up before he lifted it to his knee again. 

Gabriel stepped right up in front of him and put his hands on the hunter’s hips. “You’re overcompensating. You expect it to be more difficult so you’re shifting too much.” He ran his hands firmly up Sam’s sides making the hunter blush which Gabriel pretended not to notice, while internally grinning. He put a little more pressure on Sam’s right side straightening him up a little more and he could tell an immediate difference in the ease that the hunter was staying balanced. 

It still wasn’t quite right though. Gabriel moved around to Sam’s side and placed one hand flat on his upper chest and the other on his upper back and instantly saw the problem. Sam was leaning back slightly. He probably could have just told the hunter that, but wasn’t about to give up this chance to touch. He smirked to himself as he moved his hand down Sam’s chest to his stomach and Sam shifted and stumbled. 

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. Who knew he could affect the hunter so much? Maybe he’d have to try a scantily dressed man next time instead of a woman. Sam moved himself back into position, now beet red and Gabriel continued his corrections, until Sam was perfectly balanced before stepping back and saying, “Much better. Can you tell the difference?”

“Yeah. Definitely,” Sam said finally starting to return to normal color.

“Now try bending,” Gabriel said and Sam did so flawlessly. 

“Excellent!” Gabriel said pleased. “Now you just need to try to apply the same corrections to the other positions now that you know what it feels like.” 

Gabriel was about to leave, but Sam stopped him. “You can stay and hang out for a while if you want. It doesn’t have to be all about business.” Gabriel just shrugged and plopped gracefully down on the couch. 

They spent about an hour chatting amicably until Gabriel heard the impala outside. The easiest way to keep the peace with Dean was avoidance so he just said, “Later Sammy,” and disappeared. 

By the time the next lesson rolled around on Saturday, Gabriel was pleased with Sam’s progress. He could tell the hunter was making an effort. Gabriel did, in fact, throw Sam in the ring with a man in a speedo this time and smirked as the hunter was a little more flustered, but quickly recovered. Seemed little Sammy had a secret.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam always told Dean when Gabriel stopped by with updates on his progress, not that there was much to report, but he kept the fighting sessions a secret. He knew Dean would make fun of him for taking lessons from Gabriel. Hell he probably would have made fun of him too before he had seen Gabriel fight…or dodge rather since the archangel hadn’t actually fought at all. Sam had been moving more gracefully since he had started the lessons and figured it was because of the whole balance thing. It was amazing how much of a difference one little thing could make. Dean had noticed something was different about his brother, but couldn’t put his finger on what it was so he just watched. 

The next week they ended up going undercover in a mental institution hunting a wraith, which was a complete disaster. Sam was restrained to the bed as the wraith stood over him taunting him. He struggled in his restraints but couldn’t get free. When she extended her feeding thingy Sam panicked. ‘Gabriel help,’ he screamed in his head. 

Gabriel popped in and immediately fried the wraith, just as Dean stumbled into the room obviously drugged himself. Gabriel raised an eyebrow looking between them before he doubled over in laughter. “You know…if I’d thought it’d make a difference…I would have mentioned your insanity…a long time ago,” he gasped out around his guffaws. “Good for you getting help.” 

“Quit laughing and get me out of here,” Sam said impatiently tugging at his restraints. 

“But you look so delicious all trussed up like that,” Gabriel drawled winking at the hunter who turned bright red and started sputtering. 

Gabriel chuckled as he undid Sam’s restraints, before turning to a confused and woozy Dean and touching a hand to his forehead purging his system of the wraith venom. He had done the same for Sam while he was untying him. “You guys are priceless. I tell you,” Gabriel said still chuckling and got twin bitchfaces in response. 

Gabriel was nice enough to transport them directly to their motel room and save them the trouble of sneaking out, but not before one last zinger. “You sure you don’t want to stay a little longer? Might be good for you.”

Once they were back Dean decided to get an update directly from the archangel this time since he was there. “So you made any progress on your mission?” he asked irritably.

“Somewhat. I have confirmed that the cage can be opened again. No ideas on how yet unfortunately. I’ve also reached out to some of the gods who are known for imprisoning other gods, to see if they have anything that might help. They are getting pretty antsy about this whole apocalypse thing too, so they’re looking into it.”

“Good,” Sam said with a nod. “At least we’re getting somewhere even if it is slowly.”

“Yeah. Too slowly. While you’re dragging your feet Lucifer is out there wreaking havoc in case you haven’t noticed,” Dean said heatedly. He was still stinging from his embarrassment back at the mental hospital so was a little harsher than he normally would have been.

“Oh I’m so sorry. Am I not rewriting destiny fast enough for you? Is unraveling God’s plans for the planet not going quickly enough for your highness?” Gabriel sneered at him. 

Sam sighed heavily before going into his usual role when these two were in the same room. “Ok enough. Both of you. Dean, Gabriel is doing the best he can. Gabriel, Dean is just frustrated.”

“And you think I’m not? I just want this to be over,” Gabriel said exasperatedly. 

“I know. And thank you for your help,” Sam said evenly, knowing that the best way to get Gabriel to relax was to stay relaxed himself. 

Gabriel let out an annoyed sound before he said, “I’ll check in again soon,” and disappeared. 

“Why are you so nice to him?” Dean asked annoyed.

“Because he has been helping, and even behaving himself and not pranking us left and right,” Sam said frustrated. 

“Have you forgotten everything he’s done to us?” Dean asked incredulously. 

“Of course not, but in the grand scheme of things that’s nothing compared to helping us stop the apocalypse. Hell, even he’s trying to be an adult about this whole thing and get along with us, but you just have to keep pushing him.”

“Be an adult? Did you hear the way he was laughing at us back there?” 

“Yeah I did, but that’s just the way he is. He saved us from the wraith and helped us escape didn’t he?” Sam pointed out. 

Dean just made the same annoyed sound that Gabriel had and turned on the tv signaling the end of the conversation. Sam just threw up his hands in surrender and went to read a book. Those two were impossible. 

 

Dean had noticed that his brother hadn’t been out with him on Saturday night in a month and was starting to get suspicious about what his brother was doing while he was gone. He enjoyed the alone time he got with Cas on those nights though and completely ignored the hypocrisy of expecting his brother to share everything while he kept his own relationship a secret. He rationalized it by the fact that Sam had made such bad choices in the past. His last girlfriend had gotten him addicted to demon blood and made him start the apocalypse for crying out loud. 

Sam was making a lot of progress, but he still had a long way to go. Now that he had the basics down Gabriel was pushing him a little harder. “Come on Sammy. Balance.” Gabriel said laughing as Sam picked himself up off the floor. Sam took a swing at Gabriel again and the archangel shifted to the side and gave a gentle push to Sam’s back as he hit the mat again. “Don’t put so much force into your swing that you lose control of your own body.”

Gabriel knew that doing the exercises and practicing in slow motion was much different than actually doing it for real so he was being patient. Sam just had to get the hang of doing what he had already learned faster. Gabriel swung at Sam next, who just moved his upper body to the side, but he didn’t shift the weight in his lower body so when Gabriel opened his hand and gave a push to the hunter’s shoulder he stumbled, but managed to stay upright. “That’s a little better,” Gabriel said cheerily as he tried again and this time when he tried to push Sam the hunter ducked down and came back up on the other side of Gabriel’s arm and Gabriel beamed at him. He could tell that Sam had kept perfect balance and control that time. 

He continued raining blows at Sam at the hunter’s speed and by the end of the session Sam was able to keep himself in check most of the time. “Great job Samsquatch. Next time we’ll pick up the speed a little more.” Sam beamed at the praise. He knew he wasn’t working at full speed yet, but he was up to the speed of normal humans who hadn’t spent their lives honing hunter reflexes so he contented himself with that. “And now that you’ve mastered the other balance exercises I want to show you some more advanced ones.”

“Ok put your leg straight out in front of you,” Gabriel directed. He put a hand on Sam’s calf up pressed it up a little more so that it was at a ninety-degree angle with his torso. “Good. Now bend your other knee.” Sam bent it just barely so Gabriel said, “A little more.” Sam still didn’t bend it far enough for Gabriel so he went to a knee next to Sam and placed one hand on the back of Sam’s knee and the other on his thigh to guide him to the correct position. 

When Gabriel’s hand pressed on Sam’s thigh he was glad he was already flushed from the workout because it hid his blush, but he did grab for Gabriel’s shoulder to keep himself from falling over. Gabriel hid his smirk. He was glad the more advanced forms required more direction. Once Sam was mostly steady in the correct position, Gabriel stood back up and moved behind the hunter placing his hands on Sam’s waist, running them up the hunter’s sides correcting his posture before running his hands down his chest and back even though he could tell that part was perfect just by looking at him. It’s not like he was going to give up the opportunity after all. 

Sam’s breath hitched when Gabriel’s hand dipped just below his belly button, but that’s as far as Gabriel went. Sam surprisingly kept his balance though. Apparently Gabriel’s lessons about distractions were doing some good. “Great job Sammy,” Gabriel purred. The ritual repeated itself four more times and Sam had five new exercises to practice.

When they appeared back in the motel room though Sam got a surprise. Dean was sitting there waiting for him with arms crossed and Sam just gaped at him for a second. “Dean! What are you doing back already?”

“Why? Did I interrupt date night or something?” Dean asked sarcastically. 

“What? NO! No. It’s nothing like that,” Sam said hurriedly. Dean just looked at him skeptically. He could see where it might look bad him being all sweaty and flushed so he didn’t see any way out of it but to tell his brother the truth. “Gabriel’s teaching me to fight.”

Dean laughed derisively. “Oh come on Sammy. If you’re gonna lie surely you can think of a better one than that.”

“It’s true. He’s been working with me on Saturday nights for the last month,” Sam tried to defend himself.

“You realize you already know how to fight?” Dean said pointedly. 

“Not like Gabriel,” Sam said hesitantly. 

“Gabriel? Fighting? Yeah right.”

Gabriel caught Sam’s eye in question. He didn’t want to start this if Sam was just gonna try and break it up again, so when Sam nodded Gabriel grinned. He would get to play again it seemed. “You think you can take me Deano?” he challenged.

“Please,” Dean said rolling his eyes. 

Gabriel’s grin got wider. “Wanna come Sammy?” Sam nodded with his own smirk on his face so they all appeared back in the gym.


	6. Chapter 6

Gabriel snapped Sam up a comfy recliner to watch from knowing that the hunter was probably exhausted, and then turned to Dean and asked, “Unarmed or blades?”

Dean was just nervous enough about Gabriel with a blade that he said “Unarmed.” He was then very surprised when Gabriel put both hands behind his back and nodded for Dean to begin with a smirk on his face. Dean was really going to enjoy wiping that smirk of his face, the thought as he took the first swing to hit nothing but air. 

It went much like his demonstration to Sam had as Dean never managed to get a hit in on the archangel. Dean was beyond frustrated as he snarled, “Fight back damnit,” once they had been going at it for half an hour. Gabriel just shrugged and used the same move he had to take down Sam placing his foot securely at Dean’s throat, hands still behind his back and a grin on his face. 

His grin faded and he stepped back quickly as he noticed Dean go rigid and wide-eyed. He recognized a flashback when he saw one and wasn’t sure what he did to trigger it, but didn’t want to make it worse. Dean collected himself pretty quickly though and looked at Gabriel gratefully, both for noticing and backing off and for not saying anything in front of Sam. Gabriel had definitely earned his respect now. Finally. 

Gabriel reached a hand down and helped the hunter to his feet. “I gotta admit. That was pretty awesome.”

Gabriel could see the question bubbling up in Dean and decided to head it off at the pass before it became an argument and shattered their delicate truce, “And I’ll tell you the same thing I told Sam. Lucifer is as far out of my league as I am out of yours.”

Dean gulped and completely threw away his idea to fight the devil head-on and just managed a nod to the archangel who snapped them back to their motel room. Sam had recognized the truce between them so he felt safe to say, “You two think you can manage to not kill each other while I take a shower? I’m all sweaty and nasty.”

Dean didn’t feel much better, but apparently his brother had been working for hours unlike him so he graciously let Sam have first shower. “We’re good,” Dean told him. 

Gabriel gave him a smile and nod. Once Gabriel heard the shower running he turned back to Dean. “Not to pry or anything, but what was that about?”

“Is that a move they teach in archangel school?” Dean asked irritated, but without any heat to it. 

“Which one?” Gabriel asked.

“The foot in the throat thing,” Dean said with a barely perceptible shudder. 

Gabriel shrugged. “It’s a pretty common subdue tactic, and the easiest one to use with my hands behind my back. Why?”

“Zachariah zapped me to the future a few months ago where Lucifer was possessing Sam and I watched him kill the future me with that move,” Dean said bluntly. 

“I see,” Gabriel said understandingly. The flashback made perfect sense now. “If we ever do that again I won’t use that move. And I won’t use it on Sam if you happen to be watching either,” Gabriel assured him. 

“Thanks,” Dean said gratefully. 

“And if it helps, the future isn’t set in stone.” 

“Then what’s all this crap about destiny?” Dean asked. 

“Were you possessed by Michael in this future you saw?” Gabriel asked pointedly. When Dean shook his head thoughtfully Gabriel explained. “The thing with destiny that most people don’t get is that it is a set of the most probably outcomes. Every decision you make takes you one step closer to your destiny, but the right decision at the right time can change its course.”

“How so?” 

“I understand you know about the deal your mother made with Azazel?” Gabriel asked uncertainly. When Dean nodded he said, “Ok I’ll start there then. When she made that deal, it was set that Sam would get fed his blood and she would die. The most likely outcome of her death was John becoming a hunter. A hundred most likely outcomes later led you to selling your soul to bring Sam back and breaking the first seal. The most likely outcome of that was Sam getting vengeance on Lilith and breaking the last seal…you see where I’m going with this?”

“Yeah. I think so. So if we had done something differently at some point we wouldn’t be here?” He asked.

“Exactly, but at the same time your options were so limited that you couldn’t see another way. Hence the destiny part,” Gabriel said. 

“So basically we need to learn to think outside the box,” Dean said. 

“Righto.”

“And you tried to help us do that,” Dean said finally understanding what Sam had been trying to tell him all along. 

Gabriel gave a sad smile. “I did.”

“How long?” Dean asked. 

“I put myself in your path back at the college where we met, hoping that we could talk it out and walk out of there amicably to give you someone else to call for instead of selling your soul to a demon. Obviously that didn’t work. That was the first time I tried to interfere. By the time Lucifer was released I thought it was too late to stop it. Still do mostly to be honest.”

“Then why are you helping us?” Dean asked. 

“Do you know how long it’s been since someone valued what I had to say and showed any trust in me at all?” Gabriel asked wryly. “Since never. Even in heaven I was always the annoying baby brother. But then Sam offered to let me out of the holy fire if I just talked to him, and trusted me to keep my word. I feel like I owe it to him to try.”

And this was getting way too far into chick flick territory for Dean’s taste, so he just said, “Well thanks. And I’ll try to stop making it so difficult for you.” If Dean had had his way Gabriel would have stayed in the holy fire until he spilled every last detail about the apocalypse, and he wouldn’t have been nice about making him spill either. He was suddenly very glad he had let Sam take control of that conversation. 

“That would be appreciated,” Gabriel said with a short laugh. 

Dean changed the subject. “So did you whoop Sammy as bad as you did me?”

“Yup,” Gabriel said smugly. “He lasted an hour though before he got so exhausted I took pity on him and ended it.”

Dean laughed heartily followed by Gabriel as Sam stepped out of the bathroom in his sweats and t-shirt. He raised a questioning eyebrow at them. He had been afraid not killing each other had been a dream on his part, but them laughing together was a whole different story. Gabriel grinned at Sam. “I do believe that Deano and I have called a truce,” he said theatrically. 

“It won’t last very long if you keep calling me Deano,” he said without any heat. 

“Whatever you say Deano,” Gabriel said.

Sam just shook his head and walked towards the bed. “Dude you’re going to bed already? It’s not even ten o’clock.”

“You try working with Mr. Slave Driver for three hours and see how bad you want to go to sleep,” Sam grumbled good naturedly. 

“I told you you didn’t want me teaching you Samsquatch,” Gabriel said teasingly as Sam just pulled his pillow over his head. Gabriel chuckled and said, “I guess I’ll go and let sleeping beauty here get his rest.”

Even with his pillow over his head, his aim was dead on when he threw the other pillow at the laughing archangel who promptly disappeared. Dean just shook his head and turned the tv on with the volume low in deference to Sam.


	7. Chapter 7

When Sam found himself in another person’s body, he first tried to reach out to Dean. When his brother didn’t answer any of their phones, his next call was for Gabriel. They had a witch to salt and burn. He didn’t have time for this crap. Gabriel arrived in the teenager’s room and raised an eyebrow at Sam’s appearance. Sam sighed. “Yeah yeah. Laugh it up,” he said in defeat.

So Gabriel did. “I can’t believe you got body snatched,” he said through his laughter. “I swear I should have just followed you two around for amusement a long time ago. The things you get yourselves into…” he could no longer form words from laughing so hard. 

Once Gabriel had calmed and wiped the tears from his eyes, Sam asked, “You done?” 

“I think so…for the moment anway,” he said with one last chuckle. 

“Good now help me find my own body and get it back please.”

“Your wish is my command Samsquatch,” he said with a grin as he snapped his fingers and appeared in a motel room with Dean and his body. 

The person in his body jumped and yelled, “What the hell?” causing Dean to look at him suspiciously. He should be used to Gabriel popping in and out, though the kid in tow was new. 

He turned his attention to Gabriel though. “Gabriel? What’s going on? Who’s the kid?” 

Dean didn’t hear the squeak of fear from his brother’s body when he said Gabriel’s name, but Gabriel did and just ignored it for the moment in favor of another laughing fit. “You didn’t even realize that wasn’t Sam? Oh my dad, this is priceless,” he gasped through his laughter. He was aware enough to snap his fingers and slam the door on the kid trying to escape and put him back on the bed all trussed up as the kid wet himself. 

When Sam realized that Gabriel wasn’t going to be able to explain he did. “I’m Sam, and I’m guessing that’s Gary in my body since I’m in his,” he said annoyed. 

Gary now understood why the demons had a hit out on Dean Winchester if he was working with the archangel Gabriel, because who else would have those kinds of powers and go by that name. As he had just started to wrap his head around that Dean rounded on him in anger. “Fix this,” he growled. 

Gary whimpered and nodded his head, unable to answer verbally due to the gag that Gabriel had placed in his mouth. By then Gabriel had gotten himself under control and snapped his fingers again and the kid was untied and all the ingredients to reverse the spell were in the room. Gary wasted no time reversing the spell and then turned to Gabriel. “Are you really the archangel Gabriel?” he asked meekly.

“Yup,” Gabriel said smugly. 

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. 

Gabriel took on a serious expression that the hunters who knew him so well could see right through but the kid didn’t. “Go forth and sin no more young man,” he said dramatically and Gary rushed right out the door. It had barely closed behind him before Gabriel erupted in another fit of laughter. “I bet…there’s gonna be a…a new priest in a few years,” he managed to say causing both hunters to laugh as well. 

 

When Gabriel came by for Sam’s lesson that Saturday he was surprised to see Dean still there too. He raised an eyebrow at him before he turned to Sam and asked, “Ready to go Samsquatch?”

“Can I watch?” Dean asked. 

Gabriel looked to Sam who shrugged indifferently. “If you can do so quietly and respectfully, I don’t see why not. Maybe you can even help with the first part if that’s good with Sam?” Sam just nodded. He had been hoping for that ever since Dean said he wanted to come. He and Dean had always been equal in skill before so he knew that he could easily beat his brother now. 

They appeared in the gym as Dean was saying, “First part?”

“First part I watch Sam fight to see how much progress he has made. You game Deano?” 

Dean shrugged. How much better could Sam have gotten in a month after all. They squared off and Dean took the first swing meeting only air as a foot hooked his ankle and he hit the mat. “Lucky shot,” he said as he got up and got ready to go again. This time Dean led with a kick towards Sam’s stomach, but Sam spun to the side ending behind Dean and had him around the neck. Dean tried a third time, this time with both a punch and a kick to either side of Sam’s body knowing that either way he dodged he would get him, but Sam just turned his body to the side presenting a narrower profile and grabbed Dean’s kicking leg and threw it up planting Dean on the mat again. “Okay what the hell?” Dean said irritated. 

Gabriel just rolled his eyes. “Ok this isn’t going to work,” he said as he snapped up a chair for Dean. He decided to be nice to Sam and give him a normal opponent this time instead of a mostly naked guy since his brother was watching. Dean obediently sat in the chair still trying to wrap his head around how much better his brother had gotten in such a short amount of time. Once Sam started fighting Gabriel’s construct he was even more in awe. 

Gabriel walked appraisingly around the fighting duo, occasionally dodging out of the way of a flying body. It wasn’t two minutes in when he called a halt. Sam looked at him curiously but he just stepped over and slapped a hand to the outside of Sam’s thigh and after a brief glow Gabriel just said, “Why didn’t you tell me you had a pulled muscle?” 

“Because I didn’t notice,” Sam said sheepishly. “How did you?”

“You were shifting your weight awkwardly on that leg,” Gabriel said with a shrug before he stepped back and they resumed fighting and he resumed circling them. 

Dean was just watching quietly as he was told to. He couldn’t believe his brother had beat him so handily when he already had a pulled muscle. On second thought, he could totally believe it as he watched the fighting duo. 

After the twenty minutes had passed Gabriel waited until Sam was mid-swing before he snapped the opponent away and he smiled with pride as Sam kept perfect balance despite hitting nothing but air. 

“You’re getting better,” Gabriel said approvingly. “You’re still not balancing your weight correctly in your legs all the time though.”

“It’s when I step forward into a swing isn’t it? It always feels a little off.”

“Excellent! You can feel the difference now. That makes things easier,” Gabriel said brightly. “Now make like you’re going to hit your something…freeze.” He stepped back and looked over Sam’s stance for a moment. “Ok I see the problem,” he said as he placed himself behind the hunter. He put his hands on Sam’s hips and rotated them a bit, while using his foot to nudge Sam’s sideways. He had found, much to his delight, that it was easier that way than trying to explain what he wanted. He also reached up to Sam’s shoulder and pressed it down slightly. “You get more power behind your punch that way,” he explained. “That feel more comfortable?” Gabriel asked already knowing the answer. 

“Much,” Sam said. 

“Good. Reset and try it again,” he said as he stepped back and watched Sam’s form. He made him go through it a few times. The first time was almost right, but Sam had to correct himself partway through. The rest of the times were perfect. “Great. Now let’s put it into practice shall we?” Gabriel said squaring off against the hunter and Dean perked up. He had a feeling this was going to be good. He immediately noticed that Gabriel was moving much slower than he was capable of, but figured it wouldn’t be a good test if he moved fast enough to knock Sam out before he ever saw it coming. He was still moving faster than Dean would have been comfortable with though, but Sam was keeping up just fine. 

Now that he was watching Dean could see the difference in the way Sam was fighting. He looked far more graceful and in control than he ever had before. Dean had never put much stock in grace when fighting, but it seemed like it did make a pretty big difference. It took a while, but eventually Sam hit the floor. “You know what you did wrong there?” Gabriel asked. 

“I overcompensated on the forward swing,” Sam said sheepishly as Gabriel helped him up. 

“Bingo.” 

They went back to the match and an hour later Sam had only hit the floor twice more. “Definitely an improvement. Now let’s see the first stance I showed you last time.” Once Sam’s leg was perpendicular and the other leg bent to Gabriel’s specifications Gabriel said, “Now touch your toes.”

“What?” Sam asked shocked. “Gabriel that’s not possible.”

“Course it is kiddo. It’s all about balance remember. Trust me,” Gabriel said moving behind Sam. “Hips back a bit…keep your spine straight.” Gabriel grabbed his hips to steady him when he wobbled. “There you go!” Gabriel said letting go as Sam’s fingers touched his toes and Sam stayed steady. They went through a few more stances, adding something more difficult to most of them, before Gabriel called it for the night. 

“That was awesome,” Dean said excited as Gabriel snapped them back to the motel room. “Don’t suppose you’ll teach me too?” he asked as Sam made his way for the shower. 

“Yeah, not gonna happen,” Gabriel said shaking his head. “Let Sam teach you.” Dean looked a little hurt at that. He had thought that he and Gabriel were getting along. Gabriel saw that and clarified. “I know we’re getting along now, but we butt heads a little too much to be put in student and teacher roles. Sam I can work with, but you and I are too much alike,” he explained. “Not to mention that one night a week is enough to take off from my search.”

“Okay. Yeah. I get that. I’ll make Sammy teach me.”

When Sam came out of the shower Gabriel was gone and Dean was watching tv and Sam made directly for his bed. Dean just turned the tv down and didn’t comment. Now that he had seen what Sam goes through every week, he definitely understood the need to crash.


	8. Chapter 8

When they found out that Anna had gone back in time to kill Mary and John Winchester before Sam and Dean could be born they were understandably panicked and immediately turned to Cas for help. “Time travel was difficult even with the powers of heaven at my disposal,” he explained.

“Which got cut off,” Sam said in defeat.

“So what you’re like a Delorean without enough plutonium?” Dean asked.

“I don’t understand that reference,” Cas said irritated but before he could say anything else Sam cut in. 

“It’s okay Cas. We can call Gabe.” Gabriel arrived almost immediately after Sam’s prayer and Sam wasted no time in filling him in on what was going on. 

“Nothing to worry about kiddo. Even we can’t change the past,” Gabriel said dismissively. 

“Then why would she even try?” Sam said trying to get Gabe to understand that this wasn’t something they could take chances with. 

“Who knows. She’s just nuts maybe? Anna was always a few fries short of a happy meal from what I remember.”

“Gabe please. Take us back. We can’t take any chances with this. If she’s somehow found a way…” Sam trailed off. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “If it’ll make you two boneheads feel better I’ll hop back and keep an eye on things, but you two really don’t need to be hopping through time.”

Sam realized that was the best option they were going to get and he could trust Gabe to get the job done so he nodded. “Thanks Gabe.”

“Sure sure,” Gabriel waved him off and disappeared. 

Just as Gabriel suspected everything ended up fine. Anna attacked but Michael intervened and killed her before he wiped the Winchester’s memories. Once everything was settled he popped back to a jittery Sam and pacing Dean. “I bring you tidings of great joy,” he said theatrically and the hunters just looked at him blankly. “What? That’s what you say when telling people about impending births,” Gabriel said defensively with a grin. “In this case…your impending births.”

“So everything’s fine then?” Sam asked anxiously. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes again. “Of course Samsquatch.”

“Thank you Gabriel. Really.” Sam said sincerely. 

“I didn’t even need to do anything,” Gabriel pointed out. 

“But you still went back to ease our minds,” Sam said gratefully. 

Gabriel just shrugged and waved it off. He still wasn’t used to gratitude and didn’t really know how to handle it. 

 

Sam had begun teaching Dean to fight the way that Gabriel had taught him, but with much less touching. Sam knew that Gabriel never meant it that way, but Sam had finally admitted to himself that he enjoyed when Gabriel corrected his form, and occasionally had to fight with himself not to get it wrong on purpose just for that reason. He just really wasn’t comfortable touching his brother like that. Neither of them had been much into physical contact in their lives. 

Dean was progressing more slowly than Sam had. It seemed that his bad habits were much more ingrained and it didn’t help that he was too stubborn to do anything without arguing about it and trying to prove that his way was better. Sam could definitely see why Gabriel didn’t want any part of teaching Dean and cursed himself for letting himself be roped into it. 

 

It was another week before Gabriel got another call from the hunter. He had been in the middle of meeting with Anansi who had some information for him on the cage and Sam hadn’t sounded panicked…just concerned…so he resolved to go after he was done. 

By the time he arrived Sam had already drained one demon and was diving for the second. “Shit,” Gabriel muttered, before stepping between Sam and the demon. Sam was in the throes of bloodlust though and didn’t take the interference well. Gabriel could feel the influence of famine tickling at the edges of his subconscious to he knew he had to get the hunter out of here if he was going to fix this, so when Sam charged at him, Gabriel danced around him, grabbed the hunter around the neck and disappeared with him to a secure place. 

Sam was fighting him tooth and nail but Gabriel easily subdued him and cut his own arm open placing it to the hunter’s mouth. He was really going to regret this, but there was nothing else for it. His blood would burn the demon blood out of the hunter fast. He would deal with the discomfort associated with it. 

He pressed his arm to Sam’s lips and the hunter immediately latched on and began to suck as Gabriel held him tightly Sam’s back to his chest. He canted his hips back to hide his reaction and closed his eyes against the sensations. The sharing of blood was a rather intimate thing among both angels and gods so his reaction was to be expected. 

He could tell when Sam came back to himself as he moved his face away from Gabriel’s arm in confusion. He knew it wasn’t demon blood because he was in his right mind, but what the hell? He turned and saw Gabriel as the archangel was turning away from him, trying to get his own body under control. Gabriel went and sat at the table so he could still face Sam for this conversation without giving anything away. “Gabriel? What…”

“Famine got to you. Easiest cure for demon blood is angel blood,” Gabriel said a bit shakily despite trying to hide it. 

“Are you okay?” Sam narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

“I’m fine Samsquatch. I’ll be slightly weaker for a few days, but nothing serious,” Gabriel said dismissively. 

“I’m sorry,” Sam said ashamed of himself for giving in to the addiction.

Gabriel snorted. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I heard your call, but ignored it because I was meeting with someone about the cage and you didn’t sound panicked enough for me to bother,” he said angry at himself. 

“But I’m the one who…”

“No one can resist famine Sammy. No one. Except maybe me and even then not for very long. You did nothing wrong,” Gabriel said firmly. 

Sam nodded relieved before saying, “Neither did you, you know. You were dealing with something more important or you would have been there.” Gabriel nodded at Sam, but didn’t actually believe it. Sam was the only person who ever believed in him and he had let the hunter down. Sam could see that Gabriel wasn’t buying it so just had one more thing to add, “And you fixed it as soon as you could to your own detriment.”

“Doesn’t make it right,” Gabriel muttered. 

“Yeah. It really does,” Sam insisted before pointing out that Dean and Cas were still trying to deal with Famine. 

“Right,” Gabriel said standing and disappearing. Sam just blinked at the now empty space. Was Gabriel really just going to leave him here? A moment later Sam appeared in their motel room with his brother and both angels while Gabriel was holding a severed hand. Sam was glad to see that Gabriel had gotten rid of all evidence from his encounter with the demons. His brother never needed to know. 

Once they had all oriented themselves to the sudden change in location and Gabriel had removed the ring from the severed hand, handing it to Dean before vanishing the hand Sam turned to Gabriel. “You said you were meeting with someone about the cage?”

That got Dean’s and Cas’ immediate attention. “Yeah. We know the cage opens in two parts now. There are keys along with an incantation. My contact has a lead on the incantation and we know the keys are part of a puzzle. We just need to figure out what the pieces are. We’re getting there.”

“That’s great. Finally feels like progress,” Dean said satisfied. He was getting a little annoyed with the whole ‘I’m still looking but nothing yet’ status reports. 

 

When Gabriel was called in on the situation in Sioux Falls where the dead were coming back to life he took one look at them and realized that their souls were not in their bodies. Cas would have realized too if he still had the juice. Gabriel assured Bobby that his wife’s soul was still safely tucked in heaven, only assuming she was there instead of hell, but he didn’t think that it would give the old hunter much comfort to voice it. Bobby didn’t take it well when Sam and Dean tried to use that information to convince their surrogate father to let them take her out. 

Gabriel sighed and stepped in before things could get out of hand. “Unclench kiddos. Bobby, feel free to take a few days to spend with your wife if you wish, but don’t hesitate to call for me when she turns because she will. I will take care of it as humanely as possible.” He could understand wanting time with someone you love. 

Bobby looked at him gratefully and nodded, before bustling out of the room to get back to his resurrected wife and Gabriel turned to the boys and chided them. “You boys need to learn a little tact and sensitivity and yes I realize that sounds horribly wrong coming from me.”

Both brothers looked a little sheepish, but couldn’t help the amused chortles when Gabriel added the last part. The rest of the town was easy to deal with. No one needed to know exactly who he was, so he just introduced himself as an angel come to take their loved ones home. He destroyed them with a snap of his fingers. To their watching family it would have seemed like they just disappeared. To the ones who asked questions he just implied that it was a gift for them to spend a little more time with them. 

Once he was finished with the rest of the town he waited for Bobby’s call. When he got it he found Karen lying on the couch, obviously fighting the pull. He put a hand on the old hunter’s shoulder and looked at him in question just getting a gruff, “I’m staying,” in response. Gabriel nodded and snapped his fingers as Karen’s body disappeared. Bobby hated owing anyone, especially the creature that had tried to kill him with a chainsaw the first time they met, but sucked it up and said a clipped, “thanks” as he left the room. 

Gabriel heard Dean’s desperate call this time and immediately appeared in the room just as a couple of idiotic hunters shot Dean. He could see that Sam had already received the same treatment. He threw the two against the wall and sneered while he considered what to do with them before he snapped his fingers and they disappeared. He might let them out. Eventually. 

He was just about to bring the hunter’s back when Cas appeared and stopped him. “What are you doing Castiel?” he asked suspiciously. 

“If we can reach them in heaven they can get to Joshua who can get a message to father,” Cas explained.

“Don’t you get it Cas? Daddy doesn’t care. He knows full well what is going on here and he just doesn’t give a crap.”

“That’s your opinion Gabriel,” Cas said firmly.

“No Cassie. That’s fact. And the sooner you accept that the better. The fact that you want to leave them up there on Michael’s turf any longer than they have to be tells me how far gone you are. Stop waiting for Daddy to bail you out and take some responsibility for your own damn problems,” he said pushing the seraph out of the way and bringing the brothers back to life as Cas disappeared.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam and Dean jolted awake in their beds to find Gabriel standing over them. Cas had left rather than face Gabriel’s anger and harsh words. They looked around curiously trying to get their bearings. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” Gabriel said with a grin. 

“What happened to the guys who…” Dean trailed off. He had glimpsed Gabriel’s arrival just as his lights went out and he doubted Gabriel would have just given them a pat on the back and sent them on their way. 

Gabriel smirked evilly. “Let’s just say they’re getting their just desserts and leave it at that hmm?”

“Did you kill them?” Sam asked not sure how he would feel if the answer was yes. They had killed him after all, but they were still human beings. 

Gabriel’s smirk just intensified, “Death is too easy. No they are alive…much as they may wish they weren’t.”

“Gabriel…” Sam said warningly. 

“Oh relax Samsquatch. It’s not like I’m having them seriously tortured. They’re just trapped in a little maze filled with monsters. They’re hunters right? And I’ll let them out eventually…maybe.” Sam rolled his eyes. Gabriel was right. He could have done a lot worse and they did kill him and his brother after all so he just put it out of his mind. “So did you guys have fun in your brief view of heaven?” he asked changing the subject. 

“Well I don’t know about Sammy but I wasn’t there very long. Set off a few fireworks then I woke up,” Dean said with a shrug. 

“Same. I was in an old friend’s house when I was a kid having thanksgiving dinner then here.”

“Good I hoped I had gotten to you before Michael’s goons could find you.”

“Thank you Gabriel. Really.” Sam said gratefully. 

As usual Gabriel just waved off the thanks. 

 

Sam had been doing a lot of thinking about Anna’s idea to end the apocalypse. He didn’t particularly want to die, but if it came to it. It’s not like he could do it himself though. He couldn’t do it completely enough. He figured Gabriel would do anything if it meant stopping the apocalypse so after their next lesson that night he asked Gabriel, “Can we talk for a sec?”

Gabriel raised a questioning eyebrow, but snapped up a couple comfortable recliners. He figured that Sam didn’t want Dean to hear this conversation and there was always a chance he would be back at the motel. “Shoot Samsqatch.”

“It’s about Anna’s plan…” Sam started. 

Gabriel was immediately out of his seat. “Not gonna happen,” he said firmly. 

“I’m not saying it would be anything but a last resort,” Sam tried to placate him. 

“It’s not any resort. Last or otherwise,” Gabriel growled getting annoyed. 

“But if it’s the only way…”

“I don’t care!” Gabriel said heatedly. “It will not happen. Period. I’ll let the whole damn world burn first.”

Sam was taken aback for a second before he started getting angry too. “And what about what I want Gabriel? You think I want people to die when my death could save them? This will end the apocalypse! Isn’t that what you’re in this for? Why do you even care about one stupid human life?”

“Because I love you damnit!” Gabriel shouted and then froze as he realized what he said. He quickly unfroze and said, “Fuck” as he disappeared and Sam was suddenly back in his motel room. 

Sam had also froze when those words came tumbling from the archangel’s mouth. He still hadn’t recovered himself by the time he was back in his room. It wasn’t until he heard Dean’s voice that he snapped out of it. “Sammy? What’s wrong?” 

“Huh?” Sam said blinking and turned to look at his brother. “Nothing. I just…got distracted. That’s all. I’m going to take a shower,” he said as he rushed out of the room. 

Dean narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He knew Sam had been with Gabriel and he would have said so if something had happened to the annoying archangel, so they must have had an argument. Or something else that Dean didn’t really want to think about so didn’t consider the possibility. 

Sam stood under the shower water trying to get his head together. Gabriel loved him. Sam thought back to all the lessons they had had and suddenly wondered if all the touching had been truly necessary or if Gabriel had just been indulging himself. He wasn’t exactly upset about it either way obviously. It was just a curiosity. He suddenly became aware of another problem brewing and he knew he would never be able to figure out what he was really feeling unless he took care of that first so he reached down to stroke himself while remembering the feel of Gabriel’s strong hands roaming over his body, only in his mind Gabriel didn’t stop at his stomach, but kept moving down. That was all it took to finish him off and after a moment turned his mind back to the original issue. He knew he was attracted to the gorgeous archangel. That much was obvious, but love? He wanted to call Gabriel, but decided it would be better to figure out his own feelings first. 

 

It was a few days later when Dean confronted him about the situation. “Is there a reason why I’m suddenly the archangel information conduit?” he asked annoyed. 

“What do you mean?” Sam asked. 

“Gabriel popped by to see me and update me on his progress. We have the incantation now by the way, but why is he coming to me and not you? You guys fighting or something?”

“Not exactly…it’s a long story,” Sam said signaling that he didn’t want to talk about it. He was still trying to figure things out a few days later when they ended up at a fancy hotel in the middle of a monsoon. He had a really bad feeling about things when they were suddenly in a room facing a group of pagan gods interrogating them about what Loki was really up to, when suddenly Gabriel strolled in like he owned the place and Sam felt that knot in his stomach loosen. 

He was hurt when Gabriel just dismissed them, barely even glancing at Sam and even when he joined them a few minutes later he didn’t look at Sam. Sam felt the sharp sting of jealousy when Gabriel implied that he was going to seduce Kali to get their blood, but he just let it go. There were more important things to worry about right now. 

Sam had no idea how Kali had figured out who Gabriel really was, but she was really pissed. Sam didn’t see it coming when she killed Gabriel though and cried brokenly, “Nooo!” as his light faded and tears streamed down Sam’s cheeks. It just figured that he finally figured out how he felt just in time for the archangel to die. 

Kali clapped her hands and Gabriel’s body turned to ash. “Well now that that’s handled, what are we going to do with you two?” she asked smugly. 

Suddenly there was a commotion from outside and most of the gods rushed out to see what was going on leaving Kali and Baldr alone with the hunters. When Lucifer came in and killed Baldr with such ease, Sam and Dean knew they were screwed. After they dived behind the table to avoid the blowback from Kali’s fire, they were shocked to see Gabriel appear. “It’s the horsemen’s rings,” he told Dean. “They’re the keys.” He then swiftly spun out from around the table and threw Lucifer out the doors. 

“Luci! I’m home!” he said mockingly. When Lucifer stepped forward Gabriel held up his blade. “Uh-uh. Not this time. He barely concealed his disgust as he helped Kali up and said, “Guys get her out of here.”

Dean looked ready to do so, but Sam just stood next to Gabriel and said, “Not a fucking chance.”

“Sam…” Dean warned. 

“No. I’m not leaving Gabriel alone here and as far as she’s concerned I’m tempted to throw her to Lucifer myself,” he said hatefully. 

“Sam…please go,” Gabriel begged the hunter finally looking him in the eyes for the first time since his slip of the tongue. 

“No,” Sam said trying to convey with a look everything he felt for him. 

Gabriel knew that convincing Sam was a lost cause especially when he pulled the angel blade that Gabriel had given him from his coat and took up position next to Gabriel and Dean did the same thing on Gabriel’s other side after giving a helpless sigh. 

Sam caught the movement behind Lucifer out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t dare look as he realized that the Gabriel next to him was an illusion and the real one was behind Lucifer, but he was hesitating. Sam knew why. It couldn’t be easy to kill your brother. He knew that Gabriel’s plan was to distract Lucifer long enough for them to escape and that it would have ended in Gabriel’s death. Still would if Gabriel didn’t do something so Sam said, “Let Gabriel and Dean go.”

“What?” he heard both of them say shocked. 

“And why would I do that Sam?” Lucifer drawled. 

“Because if you do I’ll say yes,” he said firmly. He hoped that this spurred Gabriel into action, but if not then at least Gabriel would be free and alive and he could live with that. 

“Sam no!” Dean said at the same time Gabriel said, “Absolutely not!”

Lucifer laughed heartily. “Agreed,” he said to Sam as he turned to the other two, “You can leave.”

“Sam,” Gabriel said brokenly from beside him while his real self was completely frozen behind Lucifer, not daring to say a word and letting his clone do all the talking. When Lucifer raised a hand presumably to banish Dean and Gabriel from the area, Gabriel acted as he rammed the blade into his brother’s back. 

When the light faded and Lucifer lay within the ashes of his wings Gabriel just stood there stunned for a moment as his clone disappeared. When he looked up and saw Sam smiling at him satisfied he got pissed. “What the hell was that?!” he shouted.

Sam, a bit intimidated by Gabriel’s anger and still coming down from the adrenaline, said everything in exactly the wrong way, “Well I could see you were having trouble so I thought a little motivation couldn’t hurt. I mean…I knew you wouldn’t let Lucifer have me so…”

Gabriel cut him off and looked mournfully at him, “So you used my feelings for you to manipulate me into killing my brother?” he asked in shock.

Sam sputtered for a moment. He hadn’t thought of it like that. “I didn’t…I mean…I don’t…but…”

“Save it Sam,” Gabriel said harshly. “I guess there was a reason you were his vessel after all,” he spat as he disappeared. 

Dean just looked at his brother appraisingly. Sam hadn’t moved or spoken since Gabriel had left. “You know, I get it dude. Really. Anything to kill the devil. But that was pretty harsh,” Dean said shaking his head. 

“I didn’t mean it like that…” Sam said despairingly. 

“Whatever Sammy. Let’s just get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.” 

Sam had to agree with him there. Between all the blood and bodies everywhere, he couldn’t take much more either.


	10. Chapter 10

Sam wanted to apologize. He wanted to explain. He wanted to pour his heart out to the archangel and beg his forgiveness. But Gabriel wouldn’t talk to him. He didn’t want to do it over prayer where any angel could be listening in. “Gabriel. Please. Just hear me out. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Just talk to me. Please,” Sam prayed. He prayed that every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The longer time went on without a response the worse Sam felt. He started drinking more and stopped working out. He wasn’t sleeping much either because his sleep was plagued with the final moments between him and Gabriel and the hateful look and telling him he was just like Lucifer. That he was no better than the devil. 

Sam got more and more desperate and began praying more often until one day almost a month after he had last seen the archangel he appeared looking not much better than Sam and slurred, “Will you stop praying to me every five minutes. It’s driving me nuts.”

Sam could tell that the archangel was blind drunk, but he was here. “I just want you to hear me out and then if you never want to hear from me again, I swear I’ll leave you alone,” Sam pleaded.

Gabriel collapsed drunkenly into the chair. “Fine. Talk. And then I’m done.”

Sam let out a choked sound and fell to his knees in front of Gabriel’s chair. He knew that blocking him in wouldn’t work if Gabriel really wanted to leave, but it made him feel better. He guessed he deserved that, but at least the archangel would know how he felt and why he did what he did. “Gabriel, back in the hotel I didn’t give a shit about killing Lucifer. I wasn’t thinking about the apocalypse…”

Gabriel cut him off, “Right. So you were thinking about sunshine and puppies then?” he said sarcastically.

Sam just ignored him and continued, “I was thinking about you. I saw you standing there and I just knew he was going to kill you. I…I already saw you die once that day and it…it nearly killed me. I couldn’t do it again. I just couldn’t. I did the only thing I could think of to save your life.” Gabriel was looking at him curiously now, at least some of the hatred had faded. “If you hadn’t acted…I would have gone through with it…I really would have…just because it would save your life. I…I love you Gabriel. And I couldn’t…couldn’t lose you. I’m so sorry,” Sam choked out around his tears. 

Gabriel had sobered himself up about halfway through Sam’s speech wanting a clear head to process what the hunter was saying. Gabriel had assumed that if Sam had really felt that way about him than he would have said so when Gabriel did or soon after, but when he didn’t hear anything from the hunter for a week he assumed the worst, but then when Sam stood up next to him at that hotel, he felt a stirring of hope, only for it to come crashing down when Sam explained why he had done it. He felt used and manipulated and heartbroken and that just was never a good combination. 

If he was hearing this right though, Sam loved him, and did it not to kill Lucifer, but to save him. He could tell by the hunter’s broken tears that he was being completely genuine and felt his own tears well up. Gabriel reached out a hand and placed it on the side of Sam’s face lifting his head and using a thumb to wipe away the tears. “Sammy…” was all he managed to get out before he just gave up and pressed his lips gently to the hunter’s. 

Sam gave a choked sob into the kiss and pressed his lips tighter against Gabriel’s and darting out his tongue begging for entrance. Gabriel gladly opened for him and Sam kissed him desperately pouring everything he felt into it and Gabriel freely returned it. When Sam finally pulled back for air. He rested his forehead against the archangel’s and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” Gabriel whispered back. 

“For what?” Sam asked confused. 

“For not talking to you sooner. For assuming the worst. But most of all for comparing you to Lucifer. You’re nothing like him, my Samshine,” Gabriel said placing a quick soft kiss to Sam’s lips. “I love you,” he added remembering that the only time he had said it was angry and yelling. 

“I love you too Gabriel. More than anything,” Sam said. He placed a hand on Gabriel’s chest and ran it firmly over the archangel’s toned muscles, up over his shoulders and down over his stomach, remembering how Gabriel had touched him all the time when he was teaching him. “I’ve wanted to do this forever,” he said with a chuckle.

“You could have any time you wanted to Sammy,” Gabriel said softly as Sam’s hand moved over to his waist and up his side before going over his face and to the back of his neck as Gabriel found himself being pulled into another gentle kiss. When Sam pulled back Gabriel traced a thumb lightly underneath the hunter’s eye. “You look exhausted,” he said. 

“I haven’t really been sleeping much lately,” Sam admitted sheepishly. 

Gabriel stood pulling Sam with him and led him to the bed, before pressing him down and placing soft kiss to his lips. “Go to sleep Samshine,” he said lovingly. 

Sam grabbed his wrist before he could leave. “Stay?” Sam asked hopefully. 

Gabriel smiled tenderly and slid into bed next to the hunter and Sam immediately curled up to the archangel’s side and laid his head on Gabriel’s chest. Gabriel put one hand on the arm draped over his stomach and rubbed slow circles with his thumb while the other arm wrapped around the hunter and ran his fingers through Sam’s hair. “I love you Gabe,” Sam muttered sleepily. 

“And I love you my sweet Sammy,” Gabriel whispered as Sam drifted off to sleep. 

 

Dean had pretty much figured out what Sam’s problem was by the end of the first week and he had been increasingly worried about his little brother, so when he walked into the room later on that night and saw his brother sleeping peacefully on top of the archangel, he didn’t say a word. Gabriel turned to look at him as he came in and put a finger to his lips anyway. Dean just nodded and slipped back out the door. He would get another room tonight. And probably from now on. Now that Sam had his angel, Dean felt like Sam would be okay if Dean told him about himself and Cas. 

 

Sam woke peacefully the next morning and immediately realized he wasn’t alone. He lifted his head to see a smiling archangel and kissed him desperately. “It wasn’t a dream,” he said happily. 

“Nope kiddo. You’re stuck with me now,” Gabriel said teasingly. 

“Good,” Sam said pulling him into a tight embrace that would have left a bruise if he was human, but instead he just happily returned it and kissed the hunter again. He would never be able to get enough of this. 

Sam’s hand started moving over Gabriel’s chest and stomach again in an exploratory manner memorizing every line and muscle he could feel through the archangel’s shirt. His hand moved to Gabriel’s side and teased experimentally under his shirt lightly touching the soft skin there. When Gabriel made no move to stop him, he continued moving his hand cataloging all the differences he could feel without the shirt in the way. 

Gabriel suspected that Sam had never been with a man before. That he had never let himself explore that aspect of his nature. The tentative way that Sam was exploring his body cemented that suspicion and he would gladly let the hunter continue. When Sam seemed to be getting impatient with the shirt in the way Gabriel gave a soft chuckle and shifted himself up and stripped the shirt off and Sam continued his exploration and gazed over Gabriel’s golden skin as he did so. 

When Sam pressed a sloppy kiss to Gabriel’s chest the archangel made a contented humming sound, as one hand rested behind his head and the other danced over Sam’s back. Gabriel was painfully hard by now, but wasn’t going to push anything or draw any attention to it and he was quite enjoying this anyway. So when Sam’s hand stopped hesitantly over his stomach just above his waistband Gabriel said serenely, “Whatever you want Sammy,” as he idly twirled a lock of the hunter’s hair around a finger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The extended version of this story has been posted as a separate story so that I could change the rating. 
> 
> The chapter after this one is the alternate ending.


	11. Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the alternate ending of this story. This is the way I was originally going to end it before I decided to be nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The extended ending of the happy ending is posted as a separate story.

Sam had been doing a lot of thinking about Anna’s idea to end the apocalypse. He didn’t particularly want to die, but if it came to it. It’s not like he could do it himself though. He couldn’t do it completely enough. He figured Gabriel would do anything if it meant stopping the apocalypse so after their next lesson that night he asked Gabriel, “Can we talk for a sec?”

Gabriel raised a questioning eyebrow, but snapped up a couple comfortable recliners. He figured that Sam didn’t want Dean to hear this conversation and there was always a chance he would be back at the motel. “Shoot Samsqatch.”

“It’s about Anna’s plan…” Sam started. 

Gabriel was immediately out of his seat. “Not gonna happen,” he said firmly. 

“I’m not saying it would be anything but a last resort,” Sam tried to placate him. 

“It’s not any resort. Last or otherwise,” Gabriel growled getting annoyed. 

“But if it’s the only way…”

“I don’t care!” Gabriel said heatedly. “It will not happen. Period. I’ll let the whole damn world burn first.”

Sam was taken aback for a second before he started getting angry too. “And what about what I want Gabriel? You think I want people to die when my death could save them? This will end the apocalypse! Isn’t that what you’re in this for? Why do you even care about one stupid human life?”

“Because I love you damnit!” Gabriel shouted and then froze as he realized what he said. He quickly unfroze and said, “Fuck” as he disappeared and Sam was suddenly back in his motel room. 

Sam had also froze when those words came tumbling from the archangel’s mouth. He still hadn’t recovered himself by the time he was back in his room. It wasn’t until he heard Dean’s voice that he snapped out of it. “Sammy? What’s wrong?” 

“Huh?” Sam said blinking and turned to look at his brother. “Nothing. I just…got distracted. That’s all. I’m going to take a shower,” he said as he rushed out of the room. 

Dean narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He knew Sam had been with Gabriel and he would have said so if something had happened to the annoying archangel, so they must have had an argument. Or something else that Dean didn’t really want to think about so didn’t consider the possibility. 

Sam stood under the shower water trying to get his head together. Gabriel loved him. Sam thought back to all the lessons they had had and suddenly wondered if all the touching had been truly necessary or if Gabriel had just been indulging himself. He wasn’t exactly upset about it either way obviously. It was just a curiosity. He suddenly became aware of another problem brewing and he knew he would never be able to figure out what he was really feeling unless he took care of that first so he reached down to stroke himself while remembering the feel of Gabriel’s strong hands roaming over his body, only in his mind Gabriel didn’t stop at his stomach, but kept moving down. That was all it took to finish him off and after a moment turned his mind back to the original issue. He knew he was attracted to the gorgeous archangel. That much was obvious, but love? He wanted to call Gabriel, but decided it would be better to figure out his own feelings first. 

 

It was a few days later when Dean confronted him about the situation. “Is there a reason why I’m suddenly the archangel information conduit?” he asked annoyed. 

“What do you mean?” Sam asked. 

“Gabriel popped by to see me and update me on his progress. We have the incantation now by the way, but why is he coming to me and not you? You guys fighting or something?”

“Not exactly…it’s a long story,” Sam said signaling that he didn’t want to talk about it. He was still trying to figure things out a few days later when they ended up at a fancy hotel in the middle of a monsoon. He had a really bad feeling about things when they were suddenly in a room facing a group of pagan gods interrogating them about what Loki was really up to, when suddenly Gabriel strolled in like he owned the place and Sam felt that knot in his stomach loosen. 

He was hurt when Gabriel just dismissed them, barely even glancing at Sam and even when he joined them a few minutes later he didn’t look at Sam. Sam felt the sharp sting of jealousy when Gabriel implied that he was going to seduce Kali to get their blood, but he just let it go. There were more important things to worry about right now. 

Sam had no idea how Kali had figured out who Gabriel really was, but she was really pissed. Sam didn’t see it coming when she killed Gabriel though and cried brokenly, “Nooo!” as his light faded and tears streamed down Sam’s cheeks. It just figured that he finally figured out how he felt just in time for the archangel to die. 

Kali clapped her hands and Gabriel’s body turned to ash. “Well now that that’s handled, what are we going to do with you two?” she asked smugly. 

Suddenly there was a commotion from outside and most of the gods rushed out to see what was going on leaving Kali and Baldr alone with the hunters. When Lucifer came in and killed Baldr with such ease, Sam and Dean knew they were screwed. After they dived behind the table to avoid the blowback from Kali’s fire, they were shocked to see Gabriel appear. “It’s the horsemen’s rings,” he told Dean. “They’re the keys.” He then swiftly spun out from around the table and threw Lucifer out the doors. 

“Luci! I’m home!” he said mockingly. When Lucifer stepped forward Gabriel held up his blade. “Uh-uh. Not this time. He barely concealed his disgust as he helped Kali up and said, “Guys get her out of here.”

Dean looked ready to do so, but Sam just stood next to Gabriel and said, “Not a fucking chance.”

“Sam…” Dean warned. 

“No. I’m not leaving Gabriel alone here and as far as she’s concerned I’m tempted to throw her to Lucifer myself,” he said hatefully. 

“Sam…please go,” Gabriel begged the hunter finally looking him in the eyes for the first time since his slip of the tongue. 

“No,” Sam said trying to convey with a look everything he felt for him. 

Gabriel knew that convincing Sam was a lost cause especially when he pulled the angel blade that Gabriel had given him from his coat and took up position next to Gabriel and Dean did the same thing on Gabriel’s other side after giving a helpless sigh. 

Sam caught the movement behind Lucifer out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t dare look as he realized that the Gabriel next to him was an illusion and the real one was behind Lucifer, but he was hesitating. Sam knew why. It couldn’t be easy to kill your brother. He knew that Gabriel’s plan was to distract Lucifer long enough for them to escape and that it would have ended in Gabriel’s death. Still would if Gabriel didn’t do something so Sam said, “Let Gabriel and Dean go.”

“What?” he heard both of them say shocked. 

“And why would I do that Sam?” Lucifer drawled. 

“Because if you do I’ll say yes,” he said firmly. He hoped that this spurred Gabriel into action, but if not then at least Gabriel would be free and alive and he could live with that. 

“Sam no!” Dean said at the same time Gabriel said, “Absolutely not!”

Lucifer laughed heartily. “Agreed,” he said to Sam as he turned to the other two, “You can leave.”

“Sam,” Gabriel said brokenly from beside him while his real self was completely frozen behind Lucifer, not daring to say a word and letting his clone do all the talking. When Lucifer started spilling out of his Nick vessel Gabriel unfroze and stabbed the blade through his back, but he was too late. Lucifer was already entering Sam. 

“Sammy,” Gabriel choked out as tears started rolling down his face only to find himself flung into the wall by a waved hand from his brother who was now stalking towards him. Meanwhile Sam was screaming at Lucifer from within his head. Lucifer promised to leave them alone. The representation of Lucifer in his mind pointed out that he only promised to let them leave. They had decided not to so his part of the deal was fulfilled. 

 

As Lucifer reached Gabriel and wrapped his hands around his baby brother’s neck, Sam found the strength to overpower him. He let go of Gabriel and lowered him to the ground before pressing his forehead against Gabriel’s. “I’m so sorry Gabriel. I love you.”

“Why?” Gabriel asked voice breaking and tears still streaming down his face. 

“I couldn’t let him hurt you Gabriel. I’m so sorry,” Sam said again.

“I love you Sammy,” Gabriel said brokenly as he pressed his lips gently to the hunter’s. He wanted to rage against the hunter for doing something so ridiculously stupid, but he knew that they wouldn’t have much time before Lucifer took control again and he didn’t want to waste it. 

Sam kissed him back desperately for a moment before, quick as lightning, he had wrapped his hands around Gabriel’s and pulled the archangel’s blade into his stomach. Gabriel instinctively pulled the blade right back and then dropped it in shock as he saw the light begin pouring from Sam’s body and his tears turned to wracking sobs as he lowered the hunter gently to the floor as Dean screamed Sam’s name and landed on his knees to the other side of his brother.

“Do something Gabriel,” Dean ordered. “Bring him back.”

“I…I can’t…the blade…I can’t…”Gabriel gasped out cradling Sam’s dead body to his chest. 

“There has to be something,” Dean said in denial. 

“There’s…there’s not…there’s nothing,” and no one would get any more words out of the inconsolable archangel as he was no longer able to speak.


End file.
